OTO open
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To compile current best practices regarding tracheostomy decision making, care, and technical performance during the global COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Otolaryngologists worldwide must be aware of these considerations to provide safe patient care without undue risk to themselves or their hospital coworkers.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has placed unprecedented challenges on the world and the medical community. It is transmitted through droplets, contact, the fecal-oral route, and airborne transmission under certain conditions that allow droplets to combine with air particles to form an aerosol. Viral loads are higher in the nasal area and similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Medical situations have been classified into high and low risk of generating aerosols. Most procedures and surgery in otolaryngology correspond to high-risk medical situations. This review aims to gather the vast amount of available information and generate recommendations for different surgical procedures according to aerosolization risk and COVID-19 status, with use of specific personal protective equipment in each case. ⋯ This review contributes to scientific knowledge regarding the detailed description of protective personal equipment and, most important, surgical recommendations to reduce the risk of infection in the otolaryngology community during the COVID-19 pandemic.